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18 - South Africa reimposes direct rule on Namibia
22 - Tennis star Bjorn Borg takes early retirement at the grand old age of 26
28 - British 1950's rocker, Billy Fury, dies of a heart attack (b. April 17 1941)

03 - In Australia, Bob Hawke takes over Labor Party as election is called
04 - Singer Karen Carpenter dies in California, aged 32. The coroner lists her cause of death as "heartbeat irregularities brought on by chemical imbalances associated with Anorexia" (b. March 2 1950)
11 - An inquiry into the Beirut massacre of Palestinian refugees in September 1982 results in the resignation of Ariel Sharon, Israeli defense minister
15 - The Lebanese government regains control of Beirut
16 - 72 perish in Australian "Ash Wednesday" bushfires. 2,590 square miles of bush land are destroyed
25 - US dramatist Tennessee Williams dies in New York when he accidentally swallows a plastic bottle cap

05 -  Bob Hawke wins snap poll in Australia. Malcolm Fraser resigns
06 - In West Germany, the Green party wins 24 seats in the election
08 - US President Reagan denounces the Soviet Union by saying that it is "the focus of evil in a modern world."
23 - President Reagan urges 'Star Wars' satellite based defence system to counter Inter Continental Ballistic Missile attacks
29 -  First laptop computer is launched in the US

01 - Anti-nuclear protesters form a 14 mile human chain in Britain. Similar protests take place in Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany

04 - Second Space Shuttle, Challenger, makes successful maiden voyage, which includes the first US space walk in nine years
11 - A US presidential panel recommends the installation of 100 ICBM missiles in silos in Wyoming and Nebraska, as well as the development of the single-warhead 'Midgetman' missiles
12 - Harold Washington becomes Chicago's first black mayor after a narrow victory over his Republican opponent
14 - Pete Farndon, bass player of UK rock group, The Pretenders, dies of a drug overdose
18 - Suicide car bomb destroys US embassy in Beirut, killing over 60 people. Pro-Iranian terrorists are blamed
25 - German magazine Stern begins to serialise 60 volumes of Adolf Hitler's diaries
30 - Blues legend Muddy Waters dies of a heart attack in Chicago, aged 68

04 - Reagan sides with Contra "terrorists"
06 - Hitler diaries are revealed as fakes after fooling historians and editors. The diaries had been cleverly faked by Konrad Kajau
07 - Paul Weller unveils his new post-Jam group, The Style Council, at an Anti-Nuclear benefit in South London
17 - Israel and Lebanon agree on the withdrawal of Israeli troops
24 - US Congress approves spending of $625 million on the research and development of MX missiles
25 - Return of the Jedi grosses $6.2 million (US) on its opening day

09 - Margaret Thatcher romps home in election for a second term in office
13 - Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune, the first spacecraft to travel beyond known planets
16 - Yuri Andropov elected Soviet President
16/23 - The Pope visits Poland, meets Lech Walesa and states that the right to join a free trade union is "given by the creator"
18 - Sally Ride is first US woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger
24 - Syria expels PLO leader Yassir Arafat and Syrian tanks lay siege to his guerrilla bases in Lebanon

21 - Poland ends martial law after 19 months
27 - More than 100 people die during race riots in Sri Lanka
29 - British actor David Niven dies

04 - Bettino Craxi becomes Italy's first Socialist Premier
06 - US sends aircraft to support Chad against Libyan-backed rebels
15 - US admits shielding former Nazi Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, 69, the “butcher of Lyon,” wanted in France for war crimes
16 - Actress Carrie Fisher marries singer Paul Simon
21 - Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino is assassinated at Manila Airport on his return from exile

01 - Soviets shoot down South Korean airliner (flight KAL 007) as a spy plane killing all 269 on board
03 - Civil war breaks out in Lebanon following Israeli withdrawal
05 - The US imposes light sanctions against the USSR (including suspension of negotiations for a US embassy in Kiev) over the Soviet downing of a South Korean passenger plane on September 1
09 - Medicare, the Australian Government's publicly funded national health scheme, is ready to go after the inclusion of amendments proposed by the Australian Democrats were accepted
12 - In the second largest theft in US history, an employee of Wells Fargo makes off with $7 million in cash from a company warehouse in Connecticut
15 - Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin resigns and is succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir on Oct 10th
17 - Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America
20 - US Congress authorizes Marines to remain in Lebanon for another 18 months
23 - Alan Bond's Australia II wins the Americas Cup yacht race. The trophy will leave Newport, USA, for the first time in 132 years. Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke declares the day "as good as a public holiday"
26 - A ceasefire is agreed to in Lebanon

20 - A left-wing military coup in Grenada deposes prime minister Maurice Bishop
22 - More than 250,000 people attend a rally protesting against nuclear weapons in central London
23 - A truck loaded with explosives destroys the US Marine HQ in Beirut, killing 241 Marine and Navy personnel
25 - 1,200 US Marines and 700 Army Rangers go ashore in Grenada to depose the new Soviet-aligned government at the request of the Governor General. They evacuate 1,100 US citizens
30 - 2,000 people die as earthquake ravages Eastern Turkey

02 - Hostilities end in Grenada with eighteen US soldiers dead and 115 wounded
02 - President Reagan signs a bill designating a federal holiday to honour the late Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
11 - The US sends the first of 160 cruise missiles to Great Britain. In response the USSR withdraws from arms limitation negotiations
22/23 - Breakdown of US-USSR arms reduction talks
30 - ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) agents bungle a raid on Sheraton Hotel in Australia

03 - Syrian forces near Beirut fire on US reconnaissance planes, prompting an attack from US warplanes the following day
06 - Anthony Black, an employee of Brinks-Mat Ltd., is charged by Scotland Yard with involvement in the theft of about $38 million worth of gold, diamonds and platinum, the largest heist in British history
10 - Lech Walesa awarded Nobel Peace Prize
17 - IRA car bomb kills six people outside Harrods department store in London
28 - Dennis Wilson, the only real surfing enthusiast among The Beach Boys, drowns during an incautious dip in the Pacific Ocean from his boat moored in Marina del Rey, California

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April - The new £1 coin is introduced in Britain 


Jun 24 - Syria expels PLO leader Yassir Arafat 


Sep 12 - $7 million Wells Fargo robbery



Oct 25 - US invade Grenada to depose government

 

Early morning television begins in Britain with BBC's Breakfast Time followed a month later by ITV's breakfast television service TV-AM

The new £1 coin is introduced in Britain in April. Notwithstanding its gilded appearance the new coin has no gold in it. It is made of nickel brass (a mixture of copper, nickel and zinc)

Cellular phone network starts in USA

Swatch watch launched

EFTPOS banking launched in Australia by Westpac

'Kiwi' wins Melbourne Cup

Champion golfer Jack Newton loses arm in airport accident

Time Magazine names the computer as "Man of the Year." 

 

Quote of the Year

"Balmain boys don't cry"
Neville Wran
New South Wales Premier